My History of Voting for the President of the United States

 

Since I started voting, I have always been an Independent.  I have voted for both Democrat and Republican nominees for President. No matter who I voted for, I have always voted 50% Democrat and 50% Republican down the ballot. This is because I believe in government accountability. No party should have all the power. My two main determinations on how I vote for President have to do with the economy and foreign policy. I don't care about social issues, at least when it comes to voting. With this being said, below is an outline of the history of my voting record. Something has now happened where everything I once believed no longer applies as of 2020.

 

According to my parents, of which I have absolutely no recollection, the first time I voted for the President of the United States was for the 1984 election between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. The reason I have no recollection of this is because I was eight years old. Apparently, because my father was nervous about it or not able to read the ballot and understand it properly, since his primary language and education was Greek, my mother had him take me along with him to fill out the ballot. I was told to vote for Reagan. Because of this, I like to say that the first President I voted for was Ronald Reagan in 1984, even though I was born in 1976. The only thing I do remember from this time, is that 1984 was the first year I began to give special attention to the election process and cycle for the United States President, and I remember being really happy and relieved that Reagan won by a landslide, and I stayed up late to follow the outcome.

My Top 21 Favorite Cemeteries

 

 

Anyone that knows me knows that I love cemeteries. When I travel somewhere, a cemetery will often be included as part of my destination. Cemeteries are a place of beauty, a place of history, a place of tranquility, a place of solemnity, a place of rest, a place of mystery, a place of contemplation, a place filled with the stories of those who have passed on before us. I have visited dozens upon dozens of cemeteries, and below I will list my favorite twenty-one that I have personally visited and spent time in, and I hope to visit many more before I am finally buried in one. I love all these cemeteries almost equally, so the listing of them was difficult and could easily be up for debate; and I left many out I would have loved to include. I encourage everyone to look them up and visit them all when they get a chance. I will provide a short one sentence summary of why I listed each cemetery below.

 

Without a Doubt, James Randi is Dead

 

 

A few hours ago I read in the New York Times:

 

"James Randi, a MacArthur award-winning magician who turned his formidable savvy to investigating claims of spoon bending, mind reading, fortunetelling, ghost whispering, water dowsing, faith healing, U.F.O. spotting and sundry varieties of bamboozlement, bunco, chicanery, flimflam, flummery, humbuggery, mountebankery, pettifoggery and out-and-out quacksalvery, as he quite often saw fit to call them, died on Tuesday at his home in Plantation, Fla. He was 92."